May 17, 2008

Dear punk

I remember a time in my life during which, when with a group of friends, someone might have gotten the bright idea that it would be really funny to go ring peoples' doorbells and run.

Tonight someone decided it would be hy-sterical to ring our doorbell a couple of times around 10 p.m. There is a long list of reasons why this isn't really all that entertaining to me these days. The least of these reasons is not that it wakes small children. You can add to the list that I wasn't really looking for an adrenaline rush this evening.

It's funny how "funny" changes so dramatically over the course of 15 or 20 years. It's probably unrealistic to think that neither of my children will ever, on a warm spring night, decide to engage in a similar activity but I will remind them someday of how funny our family didn't find this tonight.

I actually don't know anyone over the age of 15 who would find this activity entertaining and that probably includes the local police department. While I'm certain they have a number of more important things to do and what you did probably doesn't break a single law, I'm also sure that if there's a power-hungry police officer in the vicinity, he would be happy to drive around shining his little light in our local roundabouts.

I'm getting old and grumpy and I've called them to report lesser offenses in the last year. I'm sure you can run really fast and you're probably pretty good at hiding in your neighbors' landscaping. But, just for fun, if you ring my doorbell after dark again for no good reason, I think I'll give them a call and see if you enjoy a good adrenaline rush as much as you probably think you would.

Sincerely, The Old Hag

p.s. If you're the same kids who thought it would also be funny to rifle through the cars parked in the driveway last week, I hope you're enjoying your iPod transmitter and next time, please take the Jeep.